Hi everyone
'Identity Beyond Borders: Forced Migration in Southeast Asia' (working
suggestion)
I am writing to ask if anyone is interested in conceptualising a panel on
forced migration in Southeast Asia. I am interested in cross border
(or 'beyond border'?) issues in the Region, which include
a) Prospects for regional political solutions in view of ASEAN's positionality
b) Cross-border movement of forced migrants who have strong feelings of
community/identity (religious, ethnic, etc) with their 'own people' across
different nation-states within Southeast Asia (e.g. ethnic groups from Burma
who have fled into Thailand, Malaysia, and other countries). For example, to
explore whether they keep in contact, what forms of self-help exist, and so
on. Perhaps we may find that very little contact exist between certain
groups, while others remain closely in contact. Is this due to kinship
patterns, the fact that they are from the same village, that they have the
technological capacity to keep in contact, or so on?
c) The choices that forced migrants make in 'choosing' a destination point.
For example, interviews with people I have met suggest that Burmese Musli ms
prefer to come to Malaysia than stay in Thailand, because of a perceived
greater freedom of religion. What sort of patterns can we find in this Region?
d) Technology and its role in keeping social networks alive, transmitting
information about occurences at 'home', in communicating with the
international community, in mobilising activist networks, etc.
I think it would also be very interesting for us to have dialogue with one
another about the lives of forced migrants of the same ethnic/national
identity (e.g. Karen, Mon, Acehnese) in different countries. In other words,
if someone is working on one of these groups in Thailand for example, to speak
to someone working on Malaysia or Phil'pines on the same group, and so on.
These are just a few ideas, which I would love to discuss with anyone working
in this Region. Do drop me an email if you are interested and perhaps we can
discuss this?
Best
Alice Nah
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